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What a roller coaster week for comic book fans! In the same week that we lose Spider-Man in the MCU (for now), we also learn that we’re getting Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and She-Hulk in the MCU! Honestly, I’m OK with that trade, though I’m confident Disney and Sony will return to the bargaining table. Spider-Man isn’t even part of Phase 4, so there’s plenty of time.

At least this week’s comics were pretty great! Batman, Jimmy Olsen, Iron Man, Valkyrie; all quality comics. But I’m going to give Comic Book of the Week to Powers of X #3 for a twist that gives this event a nice shot to the arm as we near the midway point.

And just for an instant, Xorn is cool

Meanwhile, I may give up on Guardians of the Galaxy for now. I’ve always been lukewarm about this comic. It’s fine and enjoyable, and clearly well written, but it hasn’t really been doing anything for me, personally. The latest issue is mostly a recap of Rocket Raccoon’s origins, coupled with what turns out to be a really lame reason why everybody hates Rocket. Maybe I’ll keep trying going forward, but based on solicitations for November, Beta Ray Bill might be moving on to a new Annihilation story anyway.

Of course, that comic is written by Matthew Rosenberg, killer of superheroes, so maybe Bill’s inclusion is a bad sign.

Comic books were on fire this week! A bunch of my favorites came out, including previous favorites that I no longer like! Magnificent Ms. Marvel was another terrible issue, while Tony Stark – Iron Man was another great issue! And we’ve got a strong first issue for the new Jane Foster Valkyrie comic!

This week also saw the big kick-off to Jonathan Hickman’s revamp of the X-Men with House of X #1. I had high hopes for this relaunch…and the first issue delivers in spades! Easily Comic Book of the Week as it ushers in a crazy new X-Men status quo!

Bold new era

Meanwhile, sad news for Champions fans as it has been cancelled. Writer Jim Zub is a stand-up guy, so I’m sad to see his plans fall apart. But count me among the readers that just didn’t connect with the title. Sorry Jim!

Man, there are a ton of really great, meaningful comics this week. Nothing that really got me on the edge of my seat, more like just a bunch of deeply foundational, character-driven comics that really play up with the deep benches these comics have developed. I love that!

Comic Book of the Week was hard to decide, because both Unstoppable Wasp and Tony Stark – Iron Man had such strong issues. But I’m going to give it to the new issue of Runaways, for a wonderful, character-driven issue with a lot of good drama and humor!

New member already making himself useful!

Meanwhile, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is coming to an end! What a damn shame! Ryan North is ending the comic on his terms because it’s what he wants to do, this isn’t a cancellation. But still. Man. What a total bummer. That comic is brilliant! I’m gonna have to save up and buy all the tpbs just to double own the comic!

Double meanwhile, Tom King is getting kicked off Batman before he can finish his epic story. I’m sorry to hear that! King’s Batman has been my favorite Batman comic in a long time. I think it’s great! I’m always surprised to read online that people don’t like it.

By this time next week, I will have seen Avengers: Endgame and all will be right in the world. I can’t wait. I’m very excited. Let’s hope I’m not too excited!

Until then, we’ve got to read some fun comics, like Guardians of the Galaxy and the final issue of West Coast Avengers! The War of the Realms also continued this week! But Comic Book of the Week goes to the big, climactic issue of Tony Stark – Iron Man for a solid, enjoyable story.

Kids are jerks

Meanwhile, my skimming of new Uncanny X-Men issues reaffirms my correct decision to drop them. More characters I like are dead. Though if my brother is reading this, he might be slightly pleased to know that the original Pyro has been stealth returned to the living…though apparently as a one-note bad guy. I’m working on a larger Pyro article, I promise.

This was a good week. This was a very good week! I had another busy week at work, so I didn’t review everything I probably could have. But then I ended up cutting all of the comics I’m only lukewarm about! So we’ve got a week where I was in love with pretty much everything I read! How fun is that?

We’ve got really fun issues of Go Go Power Rangers, Tony Stark – Iron Man, Runaways and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, some of my current favorite comic books! We’ve got the first issue of the relaunched Magnificent Ms. Marvel, which is really neat! But Comic Book of the Week goes to my new super favorite series, Wonder Twins. It’s better than I could have ever hoped.

Wonder Twinning is hard

Meanwhile, the issues of Age of X-Man keep piling up and I keep ignoring them. Through basic internet osmosis, I’m not hearing anything too exciting or positive. So I really may just stick with X-Tremists. In better X-Men news, Sina Grace got a nice big wrap-up to his Iceman comic and it was really fun! Though I completely oppose the Iceman/Daken ‘ship, almost entirely because Daken is terrible.